Titans “Barbara Gordon” Review

Season 3 Episode 1 – Please be aware that these reviews do contain spoilers so continue at your own risk.

What I Liked?

1. The episode begins in the Batcave where Jason is alone, he’s monitoring the GCPD comms to find out about the Joker who’s on the run from the GCPD, he calls Bruce and tells him what is going on but Bruce tells Jason that he’s not going after the Joker alone and that Bruce won’t be back until morning so to stand down, Jason being the stubborn person that he is, decides to use a toxin/venom that he’s been making and goes after the Joker alone, cut to the carnival where Jason turns around and gets caught with a crossbar by none other than the Joker who brutally beats him dead while laughing. This was a huge opening to take in, for one, we got the Death in the Family story played out in live-action, next we got a hint of a substance that Red Hood only uses to gain extra strength in the comics.

2. Next we go over to a brighter city than Gotham, San Fransico where the Titans are working together to stop a break-in at Dayton Labs, we get an incredible fight scene with Nightwing who seems to have found somewhat part of his happiness back, we also get the rest of the Titans, Starfire, in a brand new suit, Gar, Superboy, and Krypto all taking down henchmen, we then see Gizmo being stopped by Krypto, this entire scene was incredible, the action, the music, the camera work was all superb.

3. I actually really enjoyed how Tim Drake was introduced into the series. He’s just a normal kid who’s smart, a huge fan of Batman and Robin, as well as working as a delivery boy for his family’s business, we see him reading about Batman and Robin when he gets stopped by the GCPD, they ask him what he’s doing and why he’s out past curfew, he offers them some free food, and they rush off after getting a call about Jason. He goes back to the restaurant and sits down to have some food and we get to see his reaction to the news of Robin being found dead, this was really interesting because we got to see a civilian’s reaction as it was announced that Robin had been killed.

4. My next like was simply the Batcave, they did the things, the dinosaur, the giant coin, the giant Joker card among other easter eggs, like the Dark Knight bank heist mask, Riddlers hat, the letter from Thomas Wayne that Barry brought back from Flashpoint, this didn’t need to happen but they added this in and it was perfect.

5. This next point I absolutely loved and quite frankly, this was needed, Barbara, Bruce, and Dick are sat talking about memories of Jason absolutely cursing out the Mad Hatter and the Mad Hatter is in utter shock, but the conversation turns sour when Bruce mentions the 8th body she’s found, she absolutely goes off on Bruce telling him that he’s wrong for taking in Jason, a scared, lonely, angry kid and turning him into a weapon, telling him he’s invincible with a mask on, that the Joker and he are both poisoning the city, she also mentions that Mr. Freeze killed Gordon.

6. another easter egg point this time but these was names and pictures(?) of some DC characters who have comic lore as a sidekick to Batman, I missed 2 names but I did manage to see Stephanie Brown who was a Robin for a short time before becoming a Batgirl down the line, the next time I saw was Duke Thomas who has recently made his debut in comics in recent years, he joined the “We Are Robin” movement before going onto becoming The Signal a daylight protector for Gotham City.

7. My next point is simply short but brutally sweet. Jason does some research and investigation into what Jason was doing, he finds a lab where Jason was working on creating an unknown substance, while in the lab Dick hears someone coming, he hides and when this person enters he jumps him and he tells Dick that he’s another dealer and heard about the lab so he wanted to check out the competition, Dick tells him that he isn’t selling drugs and neither is he, he also says that if he comes back to this lab he’ll throw him out the window, Dick then snaps his arm in half.

What I Disliked?

1. Have I missed an announcement since when was it revealed or even stated that Alfred died in Titans? I have no recollection of this ever happening, although it was nice to know Jason was buried next to Alfred.

2. Obviously I get Gar missing Rachel but having a conversation with himself and then him answering as Rachel is just straight-up weird and creepy.

Favorite Moment

I think my favorite moment would definitely have to be Bruce absolutely snapping, waking up Dick by throwing a bloody crowbar on his bedroom floor, telling Dick that all the Joker did was laugh when he bashed in his skull, Bruce had blood on his face and tells Dick to be a better Batman before disappearing.

Standout Character

I was going to give it to Dick but I have to give it to Bruce, he did the one thing he said he’d never and that was kill.

The Verdict

What an incredible start to season 3 of Titans. I was in absolute shock at the ending of this episode. The action, the story, the visuals were all updated and so well done that this was an immediate better feel than the previous two seasons for Titans. You could feel the emotion, tensions, and suspense all throughout this episode. The reveal that Mr. Freeze killed Gordon was unexpected.

Rating: 10/10

Photo: Titans Season 3 Episode 1 “Barbara Gordon”.